National Consumers League - Florence Kelley

Florence Kelley

Under Kelley's leadership, the League established labeling certifying that products were made under fair working conditions, protected workers from exploitation by employers, promoted food inspection and advocated for child labor restrictions, the limiting of work hours and establishing minimum wage laws for women. Kelley was opposed to sweatshops and for the minimum wage, eight-hour workdays, and children's rights

In founding the National Consumers League in 1899, one of Kelley's strong concerns was that the league oppose sweatshop labor. Kelley also worked to establish a work-day limited to eight hours. In 1907 she participated in the Supreme Court case Muller v. Oregon, which sought to overturn limits to the hours female workers could work in non-hazardous professions. Kelley helped file the "Brandeis Brief", which included sociological and medical evidence of the hazards of working long hours, and set the precedent of the Supreme Court's recognition of sociological evidence, which was used to great effect later in the case "Brown v. Board of Education".